Did the Citizens’ Convention on Climate work like a parliamentary assembly?

This article compares the functioning of the French Citizens’ Convention on Climate with that of the National Assembly’s “information missions.” On the one hand, it shows that while both structures rely on a form of division of labor among their members, this division is based on different logics: partisan affiliation in the case of the Assembly and the creation of a collective identity for the Convention. On the other hand, while the Assembly clearly distinguishes between the roles of deputies, civil servants, and experts, the Convention functioned as a “hybrid collective” bringing together citizens, members of the governance committee, experts, and so on. Based on this comparison, the paper concludes with some institutional design suggestions for future conventions.